we've got some live pictures. take a look out of wisconsin where president obama is preparing to speak before a ton of reporters in milwaukee. the president won wisconsin in 2008 with 56% of the vote in that state. this time around, the campaign, though, admits the state could be in play with congressman paul ryan on the gop ticket. we'll bring you the president's remarks live from milwaukee as soon as they get things started there. and after weeks of polls that put the race up in the air, there are signs the president is solidifying a top position in the race. take a look at this. two new nbc news "wall street journal" polls, pairist polls shows the president holding on to a six-point lead in ohio. you know the importance of that state by now. and two points ahead of governor romney in florida. but within the margin of error. also, early voting in florida ends today after the number of early voting days in that state is cut by half this year. 25 million people have already voted early in 34 states and washington, d.c.

and back to the frenetic pace on the campaign trail. both candidates have already held rallies in new hampshire, iowa, and wisconsin. >> you do want to be able to trust your president. you want to know -- you want to know that -- that your president means what he says and says what he means. after four years of president, you know me. you may not agree with every decision i have made. you may at times have been frustrated by the pace of change, but you know what i believe. you know where i stand. >> made a lot of promises, but those promises he couldn't keep. and the difference between us, he made promises he couldn't keep. i'm making promises i have kept and i will keep them for the american people. i have a clear and unequivocal message, and that is america is about to come roaring back. [ cheering ]

>> joining me now, "washington post" columnist and msnbc analyst eugene robinson, marc caputo and mark murray. thank you so much, gentlemen, for joining. i got to bring eugene in because he is right here and i have the pleasure of sitting alongside. when we heard or i heard governor romney say we're roaring back, i instantly thought of the auto bailout, the auto industry. how many times we heard on the campaign trail from obama and others saying gm is roaring back. and i thought, wow, it all goes back to ohio and that auto bailout which was unpopular at the time, and now here we are. >> right. so one of the big questions is will mitt romney kind of blur the lines on the auto bailout sufficiently to gain a little ground in ohio? because that is a huge issue in that state. and arguably, we could be saying wednesday that that issue won the state for president obama and that it won reelection for

president obama. >> do you think we're talking too much about ohio? listen, you've got the romney campaign saying they're looking at pennsylvania, minnesota, that they perhaps have some traction there. and we know the new numbers in florida. we'll talk with marc about that throe show at least a difference in polls from the nbc marist poll and local polls show romney is up more than we're indicating. >> first of all, i think both sides genuinely think they're going to win or certainly think they have a great chance of winning. that said, pennsylvania has always been fool's gold for republicans. it looks tempting at the end. they might go for it. >> sounds good on paper. >> but they don't get it. now if the new nbc marist poll is correct about florida, florida can decide it before we even, you know, do the late-night counting of the absentee ballots out of cleveland. i mean because florida, if that goes for president obama, that's pretty much the story, i think. >> mr. caputo, let me bring new you've in on this.

the poll shows two point ahead for governor romney in florida, that within the margin of error. my team and i were struck with looking at the lines of people early voting in that state today. >> well, those lines are really going to be the indication of how this campaign is going to go. we've had gangbusters early voting turnout in florida. about two million people in a week. because of early voting, democrats have an edge and ballots cast of about 104,000 over republicans. republicans usually do well at mail and absentee ballots. democrats dominate early voting. but guess what? the legislature, rick scott shortened the early voting days. and relative to the early voting hours we had in 2008 in south florida, they essentially cut them by 22% or about 24 hours. so it's going to make a difference. what we're going to see on election day now is a lot of those folks who probably would

have early voted, they're going to show up on election day and cast ballots. so the question is how many of these people are actually voting for obama? how many are voting for romney? obviously we don't know. indications are from our poll is that romney is winning the key demographic or the key swing voters or the key swing state, and that's the independent voters. he is marginally winning them. he is also doing well with north florida democrats, certain crossover democrats, rural democrats. he pulls about 16% of them on our poll, where as obama only pulls about 5% republican support. so that crossover appeal so to speak of romney's in florida and the independent edge that he appears to have is making a difference. but good campaigns can change polls. they're not changed by polls. and the question is who turns out their voters and who does it best. we're going to find out today. today is the last day of early voting. and then on tuesday that's when the ball game is. >> mark murray, let me bring you in. both men have these op-eds in

"the wall street journal." we have the headlines. real progress, but we're not done. that's from the president. and governor romney, a new direction for america. what are your thoughts on just the headlines alone, not even the content of the op-ed itself. but those two different headlines. >> well, right. they're actually two different realities. actually, when you look in all the polls, it doesn't matter what it is. democrats seem to be a whole lot more optimistic about the country's direction, or people who are actually planning to vote for obama are more optimistic. people who are more pessimistic, republican voters are the republicans. and so you end up having this dichotomy, or in some respects it actually almost has a 50/50 split which is actually mirrored by a lot of the national polls that show this contest to be incredibly close. i would say, and when you actually add the economic data we saw on friday from the jobs report, mitt romney's task is a little bit harder because he is actually saying, look, this has been a rough last four years, and it's time to actually good days are ahead, but the argument when you actually look at all

the statistics that are out there, things are moving in the right direction as far as things are much better than they were four years ago, and even if mitt romney ends up winning the presidency on tuesday, he will end up inheriting a much better economy than president obama did four years ago. >> that's interesting, eugene. several months ago there was an article that said insiders in the obama team were mortified at the thought that if governor romney wins the white house, that he would get credit for the recovery put in place by actions and decisions made by them. >> absolutely. that's exactly what would happen. and there is nothing anybody can do about it. the sitting president is going to get credit for the good and the bad. look, governor romney promises to add 12 million jobs in his first term. most economists believe that given the direction of the recovery, if it picks up as expected, we're going the gain 12 million jobs anyhow in the next four years. so most agree that the economy is going to get better, and

whoever is president is going to get the credit. >> let me talk to you a little bit about speaking of getting credit, the response to sandy. part of the president -- and gentlemen, you can all take a look, as well as folks at home. president obama went to fema and washington, d.c. this morning. and this is what he had to say regarding the response to sandy. let's play it. >> leaders of different political parties working together to fix what is broken. [ applause ] now it's a spirit that says no matter how bad a storm is, no matter how tough times are, we're all in this together. we rise or fall as one nation and as one people. >> if we can pull up the marist poll, the nbc "wall street journal," the president's response to sandy. 73% approve in ohio. 70% out of florida. marc caputo, let me bring you in because 70% of the people in the

home state of yours approve of his handling. will that have an impact on perhaps not early voter, but on tuesday those who look back and may have heard comments from the republican primary that were made by governor romney regarding fema. we know fema is still popular in that state for the obvious reasons. >> i think it would. florida is a big state. we're a tv state. our electorate makes its decisions largely on what they see on television, not what they read in the newspaper or on the internet. the coverage for a while before, during and after sandy, especially after sandy has been very favorable to president obama. you would think that's going to help, and it's still going on. having chris christie as a de facto unintentional surrogate doesn't seem to hurt obama one bit. it probably seems to help him. >> what is so interesting, you said chris christie, de facto endorser of obama. you've got this new article exclusive from politico saying there were people on governor romney's team who believed that

chris kri city was the vp choice almost until the very ending, and surprise it's ryan. isn't the timing interesting? >> it's a little too interesting. look, there are two ways to react. governor christie says i'm doing my job. the president is doing his job. we're working together and i'm being honest. you have to respect that. look at two different examples. haley barbour who went through katrina in mississippi says that's absolutely what governor christy ought to say, he is doing what he has to do and get off his back. and you have the underground voices of the romney campaign who were taking a different tack and kind of sniping at christie at different angles, in a fit of pique basically. >> you can't really blame them. this is game theory. you choose a, i choose b. if my guy looks like he is helping you, even if he is not truly helping you, and appearance has a tendency to be a reality, i don't blame the

romney folks for being a little piqued or po'ed. >> you may not blame them, but for showing it. some of the conservatives who backed governor romney showing that they were quite irritated with this and rather take the high road, knowing that all eyes are on this storm and the response. so marc, looking at these numbers, 73% of the folks in ohio, who already approved the bailout and now approve the president's response to sandy, what do we make of that when you couple it with the chris christie hug heard around the world it seems. we can't stop talking about it. >> the final full week of the campaign was a very good one for president obama. it gave him a lot of momentum heading into the final stretch. not only did he get that hug from chris christie, people end up proving his response to hurricane sandy. there were a slew of battleground state polls including in ohio that showed obama ahead. there did seem to be momentum that he had had. and i think most importantly when you actually look back at

hurricane sandy, and of course we don't know how election night is going to turn out, but it did freeze the romney campaign in place. and there wasn't a lot of talk of mitt romney for two or three weeks. he was the candidate who had the momentum. he was beginning to make his closing argument. and then hurricane sandy hit, and it froze that. and then the campaign began just a couple of days later. >> which is interesting, marc, because you often hear, and i want all of you to comment on this. any sport they say you don't want to peak too soon. with the unknown variable of the storm allowing the president to peak at this time, you do wonder without sandy, where would this race be tonight? >> you mean this is like one of the football games where the last team with the ball wins essentially? >> well, the overtime stats, the person with the first touch on the ball wins most of the time. >> if you take that metaphor further, though, it's because people are looking for answers, and they're looking for solutions. and they want to believe in something. they want to be in somebody. it may be the last candidate with the football wins. >> i do wonder in florida, most

polls agree that romney is nominally up, and he is up almost in all of the surveys, or a majority of them among independents. again, that makes a huge difference. in the end, our state has a higher home foreclosure rate, a higher unemployment rate than the rest of the nation. yeah that. >> see this stuff on television. but in the end, the race is going to come down to jobs and a lot of folks are going to make a decision on that. and the race comes down now to who turns out the base. i would not underestimate the romney campaign in florida. they've got a very good team and they're doing a good job. they're staying close to president obama, who in 2008 just slaughtered the republicans in early vote. it's not happening now, albeit president obama is still up. >> mark murray, marc caputo, ewe gene robinson, thank you so much for having all you have guys on. up next -- >> those are people actually cheering on the streets of manhattan because lights are

back on. not because they won the lottery, but i guess it's the same thing when you have been without power for so many days. five days after hurricane sandy hit. up next, what kind of impact will sandy have on election day voting? we've got some fresh new information on how it could even affect, of course, the popular vote in the race for president. plus have, you heard this one? rush on the big, big screen. what hollywood star is making a new movie about rush limbaugh? it is just one of the things we thought you should know. will it be a flattering movie or a takedown? first, today nate silver of the five thirty eight blog. governor romney will win 233. and apparently nate has offered up a few bets, he is so confident in the information he is putting up. join us on twitter. you can find us @tamronhall at

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those are screams of joy in lower manhattan this morning when the lights came on for the first time since hurricane sandy hit. but across the region, millions are still without power, and the temperatures are expected to drop tonight to the 30s. in fact, the coldest night since that storm reported in. in new york, nearly 800,000 people are still without power.

in new jersey more than 1.3 million have no power. also today, new measures aimed at easing a desperate fuel crisis went into effect as thousands continue to wait for gas for hours. they include rationing based on your license plate number in a dozen new jersey counties. it's come to that. and in new york, governor cuomo announced the defense department will set up emergency mobile gas stations in the new york area. by the way, the gas is free with a 10 gallon limit. officials predict voter turnout will take a hit in the east as people deal with the lingering problems from the storm. they say president obama stands to lose as many 340,000 votes across new york, new jersey, connecticut, and rhode island. these heavily democratic states, of course, are unlikely to change the outcome of the election. but it's interesting to note that number. the team also notes a turnout drop could be the difference in a close national elect, and thus could shape the political discourse over important policy

issues in a possible obama second term. joining me on the phone is william diamante for elections committee in nassau, new york. thank you so much for joining me. >> thank you for having me. >> i just understand you got out a big meeting what is the update on your county? >> we have 350 polling places. as of two days ago we had more than half of our polling places basically totally shut down with no power and no chance of getting them on. the governor intervened and ordered the long island power to make these a priority. a situation has now become manageable because we have about 50 poll sites with no power. another 50 that are temporarily generated by obviously electrical generators. and we're trying to move the existing 50 that have no power and have to chance of getting

power by tuesday into another site or to actually power generate those sites also. >> get moving them to the other sites, are we talking locations near where they would have voted, or are you looking at people already in dire straights having to trek pretty far distances? >> we're trying keep as much normalcy as possible. the situation we're coming into, we have the long beach barrier island. the entire city is without power, without water, without sewage, which there is still 20,000 people there we're going to electrify three temporary -- i'm sorry, four temporary super polling sites across the barrier island that serves 40,000 voters. and each one will be a walkable site for anybody on the island. and where we have my community of oceanside has no power and no chance of getting power most likely by next tuesday. we're going to have to divide up our 13 polling sites into probably three or four polling sites that make it either walkable or a short drive that

will not burn up a lot of gas for people. >> i'm curious. i don't want to put you on the spot. but percentage-wise, how many people do you believe will be impacted? so much so that they won't even vote on tuesday as a result of the problems they're dealing with. in many cases not even having a home? >> well, i think that's going to be a large impact, because in long beach, we had -- we have 20,000 people there according to state homeland security there is 30,000 residents on the island. so 10,000 people are not there. a third of the people are not there. they either went to families in different areas or are on shelters on the north shore or they're in other communities. we're not sure if they are willing to come back to the island that is in such bad shape to vote when they have to get their own lives together. have i members of my own staff that lost their homes. >> right. >> and they're not here because they have to put their lives back together. that's going on across the island. >> all right, william. thank you very much. i greatly appreciate you this. is nassau county, a glimpse of what is happening in that county. but it is a repeated story line

in other areas throughout the northeast. thank you so much. and now i want to take you to milwaukee, wisconsin, the president speaking at yet another rally in that big state. let's take a look. >> first came into office, asked the wealthiest americans to pay a little bit more. so we could reduce our deficit and invest in the skills and ideas of our people. and you know, at the time the republican congress and a senate candidate by the name of mitt romney vote -- they said that bill clinton's plan would hurt the economy and kill jobs. does that sound familiar? that's what they said. it turns out their math was just as bad back then as it is now. because -- because by the end of bill clinton's second term, america had created 23 million new jobs and a incomes were up and poverty was down, and our deficit had turned into a surplus. so wisconsin, we know what ideas work. we know our ideas work.

and we know that their ideas don't work. we know it. and the reason we know it is we just tried it a few years ago. after bill clinton was out of office, they tried their ideas. we tried giving big tax cuts to the wealthiest americans. we tried giving insurance companies and wall street a free rein to do whatever they play. what we got is falling incomes, record deficits, slowest job growth in 50 years and an economic crisis that we're still cleaning our way out of. so -- so we know what works and we know what doesn't. and governor romney now is a very talented salesman. so in this campaign, he is trying as hard as he can to repackage the same old ideas that didn't work and offer them up as change. he is saying he is the candidate

of change, lo and behold. now here is the thing, though. we know what change looks like. and what governor romney is offering ain't it. giving more power to the biggest banks, that's not change. another $5 trillion tax cut to the wealthiest americans, that's not change. refusing to answer details about your policies until after the election, that's definitely not change. we've heard that from politicians before. >> again, a glimpse of the campaign speech the president has been giving to supporters all day long as he crisscrosses these battleground states. he is in wisconsin. members of his team has said wisconsin is in play paul ryan, that is his home state. the president giving the stump speech he has prepare and passionately delivering across

the country. i want to let you see some other battleground state newspaper headlines. you can see how this playing out at least in some of those papers. first, florida orlando sentinel. get out the vote. smart phones and cab lets are being used as weapons in the final battle. in the new hampshire valley news, they say the state braces for voter id. those who don't have a photo id will be able to vote in new hampshire, they'll just have to sign an affidavit attesting they are who they say they are. an a headline in the telegraph herald, voter turnout already. 29%, 43% of early voters are registered democrats. 32%, republican. joining us once again, nbc news senior political editor mark murray. we listened to the president's stump speech, that's the speech he has been giving now, the same speech throughout the country. obviously the message there is interesting in that bill clinton is part of the president's sealing the deal. he is pointing back again to what mitt romney is offering up in his words are the same old

ideas that we saw in the bush years. and we saw what happened with the economy. that's the story line that seems to be the finishing argument for the president. >> well, that's right. and mitt romney, his closing speech, what he has actually been saying on the stump is that he is the candidate of change that if he is elected, things will change and change for the better. but you've actually see from president obama as well as former president bill clinton the message that mitt romney and the policies that he actually ends up standing for, and that's actually tax cuts for the wealthy, and also to get rid of a lot of regulations is the same thing that actually was practiced in the george w. bush administration. president obama isn't using george w. bush's name, but the message is actually pretty crystal clear. and you're seeing these two competing closing arguments at the very end. >> with that being the argument from the president that, you know, especially before hurricane sandy it was when mitt romney unveiled this notion that he is the change candidate here, how has his campaign, or have

they effectively fought back that what he is offering back at this late game, 3, 2, 1, what we is a at the bottom, he offering anything that proves he would in fact bring in change? >> well, he hasn't rebutted those criticisms of how his policies are different than george w. bush's. the one he has pointed out, and he did this at the debate is he would actually balance the budget, something that george w. bush didn't do. so that's where he says he would be different. but when you actually look at a lot of the advisers, a lot of the economic policies, they do seem the same. and he hasn't really rebutted that. but what he is actually doing is making the argument, look, if you've been unsatisfied in the last four years, if you're out of a job, if you're dissatisfied by the change of pace, vote for me. and that is change. that's what he is actually trying to sell. >> and quickly, i want to talk to you about the senate races, particularly those where there is a female candidate. quickly, massachusetts rates, elizabeth warren is up 53% over scott brown, 46%.

wisconsin, we see tammy baldwin, 48% over thompson, 47, which is a surprise i think to a lot of people in that race in wisconsin. missouri, claire mccaskill 49% ahead of akin. he has no backing from the establishment and the reprehensible comments that he made. nevertheless, this is turning out to be an interesting story line with female senate candidates, mark. >> 1992 was billed as the year of the women. there were a ton of women that won election to the u.s. senate. tamron, i wouldn't be surprised if we see a whole lot of women both win election and win reelection come november 6th. you mentioned some of the democratic women who are running. there are actually a lot of republican women. and even if they don't win their contests, they're running some of the best campaigns this cycle. deb fisher in nebraska, linda lingle in hawaii there are lat of women running. >> close to $100 million of her

own money in one of her campaign ads. she points out she went through bankruptcy and pulled herself up, which would certainly be an appealing message to some voters on either side. we'll see what happens in the races where we're keeping our eye on i guess the year of women 2.0, or whatever they call these things these days. thank you so much, mark. great pleasure. coming up, if president obama wins, could his victory be a template for democratic victories for years to come, a template maybe your kids' kids will be talking about? plus, no booze on election day? wtf! why there is a ban, yeah, i said it. why is there a ban on alcohol in some states? some people are going to need a stiff drink. it's one of the things we thought you should know. just a little yuk yuk today. and tumblr, behind the scenes pictures, including me rehearsing for our exit polling. and a shoe dilemma facing face

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mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios more now on all the attention the campaigns are pouring in ohio. by the time elect day arrives, the candidates, including their running mates and wives will have held at least ten rallies this weekend alone. msnbc's chris jansing joins us live from mentor, ohio, where president obama visited just a few hours ago. so chris, you have been able to talk with people. this is your home state. i love that unique perspective balanced with you being a journalist. what are folks saying there? what is important there? >> well, it's not just my home state, tamron, this is my home county. i grew up not very far from here. and look, the president had two clear messages here. one is vote. in fact, he said bring your friends, bring your neighbors,

bring your boyfriend, bring your girlfriend. but it also was an economic message, which is the one that has been resonating here for him in ohio. a very important audience for him, white working class voters, because this is an area that is 95% white. it was very, very tight election in 2008, less than 1%, although barack obama did win. they think they have an advantage this time around because of the resurgent auto industry. remember, one out of every eight jobs in ohio is in the auto industry. the vast majority of counties, 82 of 88 have some jobs related to the auto industry. and the obama campaign think there's has been some backlash against that romney ad talking about the auto bailout that has been widely discredited. in addition to that, they believe that they've been seeing a lot of early voting here. now the romney campaign is not conceding anything. they're going to be in obama territory tomorrow. they're going to be in cuyahoga county in cleveland, which is

very strongly obama territory. but they believe, the romney campaign, if they can hold barack obama's margins down, if they can get what they call the occasional voter out, that they have a chance still here in ohio, even though the latest polls show advantage obama. and one last thing about cleveland. today, so imagine this, you're at an early voting poll, a car drives up, and who gets out but stevie wonder. and he says come on and vote. and if you go to the polls and vote, i'll sing a song for you. so apparently some success for barack obama on that front. the president will also be back in ohio tomorrow. tamron? >> that is the funniest. i don't know why i started to visualize me getting out of a car and seeing stevie wonder. it took me to a whole different place there thank you very much, chris. >> imagine you're just thinking you're going to early voting and stevie wonder shows up. that's not bad. >> total dream come true. thank you so much, chris jansing. let's bring in the "newsnation" political pandemic, malika

henderson, a stevie wonder panda fan, keith boykin, also stevie wonder fan, and not because we're all three people of color. everyone loves stevie wonder. let me put that out. i don't want people to say oh, they just love stevie wonder because of that. we all love stevie wonder. i digress. speaking of race in this race, obama's demographic gamble. it says in part, obama is likely to get blown out among white voters on election day, narrowly lose independents nationwide, and may yet still win. based on historic margins among people that often lean democratic, but don't necessarily vote at high stakes, latinos, african-americans, young people and unmarried women. keith, basic point of this article is that the template, if obama wins, will be one that democrats perhaps will follow for years to come. but you heard there in chris's report in ohio, they believe a white working class voters.

but it's an interesting article. what do you make of this template change or demographic change for democrats? >> bill clinton had a word for, this and it's called arithmetic. and you know, that's what president obama has done in his campaign very wisely. he realized early on that the demographics in the electorate are changing. they've changed dramatically over the past four to eight years. we have a declining white vote and larger hispanic and african-american vote. and that's starting to make a difference in terms of the outcome you need. 38 to 40% in order to win the white vote. but there is a problem here for mitt romney and the republicans, because they haven't really focused on the latino vote. they haven't really focused -- they actually conceded the african-american vote. and you can't win elections in the future if you give up the quote/unquote minority vote. because sooner or later it's not going to be the minority. >> let me bring you in on this. listen, keith brings up the african-american vote. it probably is not a surprise that governor romney would concede that base for obvious

reasons. but the latino vote, particularly in nevada, another key state that we're watching here. there was just a kwocouple of d ago that the romney campaign ran this ad attempting to link the president to hugo chavez and fidel castro that is probably not a way to get latino voters to i guess appreciate your economic plan since he says he's got this five-point plan. >> well, one of the things that is interesting here, that is an ad that actually might work in florida. the hispanic community in florida is made up of cubans and venezuelans. if you look at the polls that. >> do care about this administration's policy in terms of some of these countries and in terms of south american countries. so that's a ploy i think will work in florida. not so much in nevada where there are more mexicans. you're right. this idea of focusing on foreign policy rather than on economic policy, not a good play. you saw mitt romney try to do that early on. he was in texas, for instance,

early on in this race, and talking about those issues. but, again, in texas, that's a state he is going to win. have i been quite surprised that you haven't seen mitt romney out on the stump with people like susana martinez. he hasn't been out with brian sandoval. >> you've named those names. and to that point the ad i referred to might appeal to cuban americans in florida. but we know he has to extend his reach to the latino community beyond florida. with that said, i don't know what he would present on the table with immigration, but he has allies that are available to him, successful latinos within his own party that he has not reached out to broaden a message of, i don't know, economic recovery or whatever, the american dream story that susana martinez forever offered up at the rnc. >> yeah, very powerful message. >> absolutely. >> you heard from that governor. and in reality, the republicans have a very deep bench when it

comes to latino statewide officials. marco rubio, of course. and you had seen early on that mitt romney was stumping in florida with marco rubio. they had cut an ad linking marco rubio to medicare and sort of trying to take off some of the negative aspects of paul ryan's plan. but i don't think they -- in my sense -- >> i got to transition us real quick because the bottom of my screen says betting on the buckeye. and i got to bring joe, thank y joining us. former president bill clinton on these jeep ads that have been running from governor romney. let me play it. >> when i was a kid and i got caught with my hand in a cookie jar, i sort of slug mid shoulders, my face got red, and i took my hand out of the cookie jar. this guy gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar, he digs down and gets some more cookies.

i mean they -- they actually -- they actually increased the ad on an ad they knew was false because they think you're dumb. i think you're smart and i think obama will be the next president. >> owill have beenly the former president referring to the ads where the romney ads where jeep and gm were moving jobs to china, the leadership of these auto companies have said that's not true. how is that all playing out in ohio? i'm curious. >> i think it's one of the things that is hurting him down the stretch. you know, if there are seven or 70 or 7,000 undecided voters in ohio, i can't imagine this would be helping him with it. especially like you say you've had not just the fact checkers who the romney campaign said they're going to ignore that this is false and editorial pages like ours pointing out these ads are false. >> right. >> you actually have the heads of these two major companies who

really, these people try to stay out of politics, especially in a very close election. for them to come out and say very strong things about the falseness of these allegations and the things that are in the ads is pretty startling. and i don't think it can help him. >> and joe, as i understand it, there were even workers who called in to their plant bosses and said am i losing my job because they had heard this story, that jobs were going to be going out to china that would be upsetting in itself. but do we -- i guess what i'm asking is when you have bill clinton saying they think you're dumb. do the people there that you've spoken to feel as if they're -- maybe the come any campaign is trying to trick them with these ads? that's a very powerful word to say. they think you're dumb. that's what former president bill clinton set on the stump. >> it's a very hard thing to figure. i've been trying to figure out who the audience for this ad is supposed to be. there are some who think it's really about firing up the base, although all we've heard for months is how fired up the republican base. so it's a little hard to figure there are republican -- the

republicans know that this whole car issue has been hurting them. they have tried in recent weeks constantly in ohio on the stump. they talk about it. and they bring it up in several contexts. one is he just did what romney said, which isn't exactly true. but they have made that argument. they have also made the argument, well, it really hasn't been all that good, because look, some plants have closed. some dealerships have closed, which igno, sir it for about a decade. anybody who looked at the auto industry said that they were vastly over capacity and designed for a world marketplace that no longer existed. and now they're trying to say well, gee whiz, the wolf is back at the door. it's hard for me to figure out what this strategy is about. maybe it's about basin sitement. these people don't want to believe anything the president has done has worked. >> we're out of time. keith, we'll talk more and have you on in the next few days. thank you, keith, thank you

nia-malik henderson and thank you joe as well. here is a bit of what mill maher had to say on his show last night. >> this is the tipping point for people believing in global warming. >> well, it is? up next, i'll talk to a "huffington post" writer who says no matter what sandy's link to climate change is, does it matter? but first, there is a lot going on today. here are some things we just thought you who know. have you heard this one? john cusack is set to play rush limbaugh in a new film. yes, the actor's production company is said to be putting the finishing touches on the script or the movie. the production slated to start next year. any resemblance there? voters in kentucky and south carolina are going to have a sober tuesday. those interest only states with laws on the books banning the sale of alcoholic beverages on election day. that means liquor stores, restaurants, everywhere. the laws, by the way, a holdover

from the prohibition era. and a programing note. chris matthews will interview vice president joe biden on a special edition of "hardball" tomorrow night, 7:00 eastern on msnbc. ♪ customer erin swenson bought from us online today. so, i'm happy. sales go up... i'm happy. it went out today... i'm happy. what if she's not home? (together) she won't be happy. use ups! she can get a text alert, reroute... even reschedule her package. it's ups my choice. are you happy? i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. (together) happy. i love logistics.

welcome back. in endorsing barack obama this week, new york city mayor michael bloomberg cited the president's record on climate change. quote, the devastation that hurricane sandy brought to new york city and much of the northeast in lost lives, lost homes and lost business brought the stakes of tuesday's presidential election into sharp relief. bloomberg compared the two candidates saying one sees climate change as an urgent problem that threatens our planet. one does not. i want our president to place scientific evidence and risk management above electoral

politics. as bill maher pointed out last night on his show, the business of bloomberg put this it this week even more bluntly. >> it's global warming, stupid. i want to ask this question that i asked james. is this a tipping point for people believing in global warming? >> "huffington post" senior writer tom zeller jr. asks a different question. sandy's link to climate change, does it matter? he joins me now. what were you thinking when you posed that question? >> well, i think to a lot of minds, this storm when it came through was sort of a teachable moment as it results to climate change. but there was also this internal quibbling over does this -- can we tie this particular storm to climate change? do we have proof that climate change is happening. i think a lot of folks kind of got caught up in that debate. and a lot of climate scientists that i spoke to thought it seemed a bit of a distraction. we have a climate that has fundamentally changed. it's a warmer planet. the baseline is different now. but we don't quite have the

ability to say this particular storm is attribute to climate change. so it's a distraction. >> one of the things i love about your piece, i don't know how many scientistious have on speed dial, but some of the best in business. he says some people would like people to believe because we don't know everything, we know nothing. because you cannot answer all of the questions, you have a group of people who say then we know nothing. it's still not proven. >> i think that's true there are different motivations there. some people have a vested interest sowing doubt. there is a lot of uncertainty. it seems like a faraway problem. >> how is it such a faraway problem. i believe it was cuomo, this notion of 100-year storms, hen they happen every year, you can no longer call them that. and you have another scientist that pointed out the ravages of

sandy may be helping to refocus political and popular attention to the problem. whether or not that attention will sustain after a long cleanup is over is unclear that was jennifer morgan, the director of climate and energy problem for world energy institute. >> we have very short memories, right? it's not just as it relates to climate change. it relates to a lot of things. i think the success of storms, the storms we had last year, hurricane irene caused a lot of damage here. we had the freak snowstorm. i think a lot of this is sort of solidifying in people's minds that something is happening, you know, whether or not any particular storm, it has the fingerprint of climate change on it, we don't know. but it's certainly what i think it was oppenheimer in the piece said it's a teachable moment in a lot of ways, no matter where the storm came from. >> but it's only teachable if people want to learn. >> people want to listen. >> thank you very much. >> sure. >> it's a great piece. i so suggest people go on and take a look at it. ow "newsnation" gut check is

up next. do you think the candidates are focusing too much on ohio? that is our gutcheck question. does ohio matter as much as everything thinks it is? >> democracy plaza is powered by windows 8. [ male announcer ] when was the last time something made your jaw drop? campbell's has 24 new soups that will make it drop over, and over again. ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque. see what's new from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

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♪ >> a little bon jovi. where i will spend my life tuesday night. look at my men all hard at work, and women. they're all hard workers, putting together what i think is an extraordinary setup, the best technology available. accurate technology, which is most important on that night. they're putting together a pretty awesome set up. i'm even told that i'll even be on the ice rink. yes. with uhs on. thank you, guys. and of course the ladies on the team as well who worked so hard

to make it pretty awesome to work here. time for a second saturday edition of the news nation gut check. this is a busy weekend for the presidential candidates as may make their final push before election day. we told you earlier a lot of their time spent in ohio. we've talked exhaustively about ohio, a phenomenal state, we know, that a state that matters. what does your gut tell you? are the campaigns focus together much on ohio? there are some who believe that maybe the math has changed. go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast your vote. and thank you so much for this special edition of "newsnation." we greatly appreciate your time. "newsnation" will be back monday, 2:00 p.m. right here on msnbc. and we are live from democracy plaza through election day. now with alex wagner is up next. >> hello, tamron. we are live indeed from democracy plaza where the ice is cold and the talk is hot. with just three days left to election day, a week of crisis management has put the president in poll position, while the

romney has begun to hear whispers of doubt. plus, planned parenthood's cecil richards joins us to discuss the gender gap, and why a romney presidency could put women in the aback machine. and arizona senate candidate richard carmona. all that and now starts in a mere 180 seconds. ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.